Somewhere in my mind
by Kuroi Diamond
Summary: I don't know who he is, all I know is his face. I just hope he can help me remember who I am... Before it is too late. Full summary inside. DxL eventually.
1. Summary and disclaimer

When a battered and worn looking Lady walks back into his life with no memory of who she is, Dante must not only help her recover her memories, he must find out why someone or something wants her dead…

The two have to act fast though. The attempts on Lady's life become increasingly brutal and without her memories of being a demon hunter, she is almost powerless to protect herself.

The key to Lady's survival is locked away in her mind. If she can't remember and Dante can't uncover the truth, Lady's life might not be the only one in danger…

_I do not own Devil May Cry. It is property of Kamiya Hideki-san and Capcom._


	2. Prologue

_The young woman struggled to keep her head above the waves and gagged in renewed agony whenever the burning, salty water rushed into her mouth. Desperately, she tried to stay awake but the more she fought not sink into the depths of the seemingly endless ocean, the more black spots crept at the edges of her failing vision._

_She also knew she was bleeding, from the head no less. Her memory of the incident where she sustained the injury became increasingly hazy as she tried to remember the details. All she really knew was that it had probably lead to her being dumped into the raging sea and now she was as good as dead…_

_Her vision became near useless as the fight against unconsciousness became too strenuous for her battered body. _

_The last thing she thought of before she blacked out was a man… Someone she really would have liked to have seen before she died…_

"_Dante…" The name became caught upon the howling wind and was swept away. Lost, before it could be heard by anyone just like the woman's body as she was swallowed by the seething white foam of the waves…_


	3. Memory 1

The young woman lay immobile on the sand without the energy to even shiver whenever the freezing cold waves washed over her. She was laying face down and barely conscious on the shoreline, disoriented and in considerable pain. Her whole body ached more then should be humanly possible and her head hurt so badly, she vaguely wondered if she was going to die.

It was no wonder she didn't hear the crunching sound of approaching shoes on the sand…

A skinny, college-age boy stared down at her intently for a few seconds before a lecherous smile spread across his acne scared face.

"Hey, bro! Check this out!" he cawed to his friend, a slightly overweight and nervous looking boy. He wrung his hands looking at the woman's still body.

"Is she dead…?" He asked, voice barely more then a whisper. It was the last thing he needed, being involved in a criminal investigation so close to finals… The skinny boy punched him on the arm.

"Look, dickhead. The bitch is still breathing." He said matter-of-factly. The chubby boy still looked apprehensive.

"Well… Don't you think she might be hurt or something? We should, like, get out of here before something bad happens…" but the other boy was too distracted by the woman's scantily-clad form to pay any real attention. Her clothes were no more then shreds. They clung to her body on a wish and a prayer, just managing to do their duty and keep her intimate parts free from prying eyes.

"Dude! This is our goddamn chance!" The skinny, perverted boy said, kneeling down on the sand next to the woman. The other boy backed away.

"No way, man. No way." He said, shaking his head frantically. His friend looked at him like he was pathetic.

"What the fuck are you, queer? We didn't get any cunt in high school, think about it as… Reparations." He reached out to run his hand down the woman's bruised but well-sculpted body…

Unbeknown to the boys, the woman was actually quite awake now and had spent the last few minutes gathering her strength. As soon as she felt a foreign hand start to molest her backside, she rolled away, surprising the two boys.

"Get… Away… Or I'll kill you…" She rasped, her own voice like sandpaper in her throat. The look in her eyes must have told the boys she was serious because the skinny boy leapt to his feet and backed away.

"Let's get the fuck out of here, dude! This bitch is fuckin' rabid!" The two ran off, stumbling down the beach. A sweater the nervous boy had been wearing tied around his waist fell off but he didn't stop running to retrieve it.

As soon as they were gone, the woman rolled over onto her back with a groan of pain. She stared into the early morning sky wondering if her head had been split in two; it was hurting so badly…

The shock of the pain and cold had begun to wear off though and the woman tried to get her thoughts in order.

What had happened?

Where was she?

_Who _was she?

Try as she might, the woman was unable to answer any of those questions. What scared her the most was her inability to answer the last one. She tried running through the alphabet, hoping it would help provide her with her identity.

When no letter rang a bell, the young woman lay very still again. A horrible realization that something very bad had happened to her made her skin tingle in fear.

"Just think… Try to remember something… Anything…" She whispered to herself and closed her eyes.

_Now think…_

A nice house… A woman… Her arms… Warmth and safety…

The flashes of images continued but they were so blurred, she couldn't see the faces of the people in them. And soon enough, they stopped being pleasant.

The woman bleeding… Laughter… Monsters… Pain…

"No!" The scream hurt her throat. She didn't want to see those _things_ anymore. It was too much, she couldn't…

One more image crept into her mind and even in her fear, she desperately grasped at it. It was the image of a man… His slivery white hair and scarlet coat moving in the wind… His eyes a vivid, azure blue alighted with confidence and passion…

The young woman opened her eyes, feeling heat on her cheeks. He was an incredibly handsome man and if his face was the only thing she really remembered…

"Who are you…?" She whispered. Something in her soul, some fiery instinct made her very sure that this man, this mysterious person in her mind was the only one who could help her.

First things first though, she'd have to get up…

She tried hoisting herself up but her arms felt like they'd been bruised to the bone. Groaning, she rolled back onto her stomach and gathered her knees under her. The pain was so much; she stayed that way, tucked into a ball until the pain had subsided to a more manageable level.

Gasping, she moved forward. Every inch she crawled bought fresh agony and it was all she could do not to fall down again. If she did now, she reasoned, she may never get back up.

The sounds of traffic caught her ear and she looked up to see the beach she was on was not far from a road. If she could make it that far, maybe she would be okay…

Her whole body felt incredibly stiff she realized as she crawled. It was as if her muscles were so tight they were squeezing her very bones.

Little by little, she grew closer to the grass growing at the road side. As soon as she could, she reached forward and grabbed a tuft of the grass and pulled herself forward.

She sank gratefully into the dense greenery and smiled weakly.

_Made it… _She thought and passed out.

* * *

"You insolent FOOL!"

The assassin winced as the wine glass the man had thrown collided with his cheek. It smashed and ripped open a small wound from which blood began to ooze from steadily. But the assassin did not do anything, he did not even move. Nor did he question his master's punishment.

Nobody questioned the master.

"I thought I made it perfectly clear! You were supposed to KILL the girl!" the master seethed. The heels of his leather boots snapped against the cold stone floor as he paced.

"My humble apologies master… It was unwise of me to not check she was dead…" the assassin whispered. The master rounded on him, fresh insults already spewing from his mouth…

A dark haired woman in a gown of wine-red velvet placed her hand on the master's shoulder.

"Darling, be calm. Give our servant the chance to eliminate the girl once and for all. Now, she is weakened and cannot possibly fight back…" the woman purred, her small white hands caressing the master's bare chest.

"Assassin." She said and the man snapped to attention.

"Yes, my mistress?" he asked, ready to leave the chamber.

"Go now. Kill the girl. Remember to bring more of her blood, the first lot will no longer do." The mistress commanded, her voice cool. The assassin bowed and turned to leave.

"And assassin…' he looked back to his mistress and gulped at the unforgiving look he saw in her dark blue eyes. " A second failure will not be met with any form of mercy." She said.

The assassin once more bowed and fled the chamber.

"Cassandra… You are far too lenient on the servant. We should have cut the useless cur's throat and sent another one after the girl." The master said in his deep baritone voice. His wife turned to him, a coy smile on her blood-red lips.

"Why Thaddeus my love, now he fears for his own life. It is either the girl's head or his… I doubt he will fail us now…" Thaddeus actually smiled for once.

"Clever as always, my wife." He said, stroking Cassandra's soft cheek. "Soon, we will have that power my love… The power the fool left behind." Thaddeus licked his lips at the fire he saw in his wife's eyes.

"Yes…' she said, kneeling in front of her husband, her hands freeing him from the confines of his pants "And then, nobody will stop us from becoming gods…"

Thaddeus closed his eyes and his hand entwined in Cassandra's hair, pulling her closer as she took him in her mouth.

"Soon…" He whispered.

* * *

_Gotta love that kind of painful awakening and villainous blowjobs… Yeah…_


	4. Memory 2

* * *

Dante was sprawled out on his stolen brown leather sofa holding a package in his hands. It didn't have a name on it so he was a little apprehensive about opening it.

"I swear, if this one explodes like the last time…" He grumbled, holding it at arms length as he peeled back the tape.

A bundle of soft red leather and a note fell out of the package and onto the floor. Now that he knew there was no danger, Dante hastily picked up both items. He unfolded the bundle of leather, finding it to be a coat in about the exact same style of the one he'd worn about a year back…

"Until my bro and Lady trashed it…" He murmured, turning his attention to the note.

_Dante,_

_I hope you didn't think badly about my sudden up and leaving. I got a lead on something that I couldn't let you help me with. I'm very sorry._

_The coat is to apologize for not saying goodbye and for aiding in the destruction of your first one. I had it custom made. It should arrive on the exact date we met one year ago. And if you for a second think that's me fantasizing about some kind of lover's anniversary, I'll know it and I'll come down there and put a bullet in a place you'd better hope you can regenerate._

_-Lady._

_PS: Thank you for everything._

Dante stared at the note for a long time. He checked the calendar and realized it was indeed the same date. He thought back to when Lady had left, he'd woken up one day and she hadn't been in her room. All of her things were gone too.

She hadn't even left a proper explanation on where she was going, just a hastily scrawled note with one word on it.

Dante reached into his pocket. He pulled out a worn-looking folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and stared at the slightly faded print;

'_Sorry' _was all it read.

Dante sighed at himself. To tell the truth, he didn't really know why he'd kept Lady's note. Maybe because it was the only thing she left behind that proved she'd actually existed.

"So… Where are you now, Lady?" He said aloud, holding her letter up to the sunlight filtering through the window.

* * *

As the sun set over the sea, it turned the water into an ocean of fire.

In the long grass, a figure stirred.

The young woman awoke with an acrid, bitter taste in her mouth as if she had been sucking upon a copper penny.

Sitting up slowly, she ran her tongue around her dry mouth. Her tongue itself felt like a sponge from which all the water had been squeezed.

Nice...

The fact that her lips were dry-gummed together didn't help either, she really needed a drink.

Swallowing so much sea water really wasn't good for you, she reasoned and vaguely recalled once being told that it gave you hallucinations. Who had told her this or when, she just couldn't remember.

It reminded her that she still didn't have any idea who she was… Or where she was, for that matter. Some sea birds called out their shrill cries above her and she looked around.

A beach somewhere, that was certain… But where exactly? She had seen a city a small distance from the beach, but she didn't know the name. Was it possible that she lived in that city?

"Only one way to find out…" she rasped to herself, and struggled to her knees. The pain was nowhere near as bad after her peaceful sleep and she managed to stagger onto her legs for the first time since awakening. They felt weak, but she took a tentative step forward and decided she was ok to walk.

She spied a sweater lying on the beach. She recalled one of the boys dropping it as they fled.

"Well, that makes things a little better; can't go into a big city half naked." She said to herself offhandly.

Slowly, she made her way to the garment and picked it up. After shaking it to dislodge any sand, she pulled it over her head. It fell low enough to give her the modesty she needed.

She smiled a little, and turned to make her way to the city, where the sun glinted off the skyscrapers.

* * *

Bobby wondered where the usual grunts were. The sun was setting and some of them were in for their swill in the afternoon half the time.

He sighed and continued to wipe down the bar with a rag. He grumbled irritably to himself;

"Guess business is gonna be slow tonight."

As if fate wished to prove him wrong, the door swung open and a stream of gruff, dirty mercenaries poured in, shouting orders at him. They didn't really need to; Bobby had known some of them since they were old enough to shoot a gun and knew their preferences when it came to drink. He mechanically started to fill their orders, sliding them down the bar.

He was so distracted that he didn't notice the door open and a small, bedraggled figure enter.

One of the other guys did, he wolf-whistled to whoever had entered. Bobby turned, thinking that maybe some poor lass had come in looking for a boyfriend.

He started when he saw them and immediately amended his 'poor lass' thought.

The young woman's hair looked stiff and encrusted with sea salt. Her skin was ashen, with a touch of hectic pink in her cheeks. Her outfit or lack thereof, was a man's sweater, too large for her small frame.

Despite all that, she was by anyone of the guys standards, hot.

She glared at the man who had whistled at her, and ignored the leering of the rest, making her way towards Bobby.

As she got closer, he saw her eyes. Amazing bi-colored orbs, reddish-brown and aquamarine. They stared at Bobby cautiously.

"If it's not too much trouble…' she said in a low voice, low enough that the guys couldn't hear "Could I please get a glass of water?"

Usually, people ordering water in Bobby's cellar were held down as a tank of Vodka was emptied down their throats, but that wasn't going to happen this time. No, this little lady, despite looking almost ill, also looked pretty feisty.

And even the guys knew not to mess with a female mercenary.

The thing about girls in the 'hired soldier' business, was that they always seemed to think they had something to prove to their male counterparts. Bobby could understand, girls probably didn't think they would be accepted unless they could either A) beat the living shit out of a guy, or B) drink one under the table. It was probably a rough way to live, Bobby thought.

"No trouble at all, little lady." He said, pouring out a mineral water. He kept it in a Vodka bottle, of course, but let it never be said that Bobby didn't keep good ol' h2o around just in case.

"Thanks." The girl said, practically snatching the glass from Bobby and downing it in one gulp. This bought about cheers from the guys, as to them, it looked as if the young woman had just chugged back a huge glass of Vodka.

"Shut up, you swines! Give my customer some room!" Bobby roared. The guys complained bitterly under the breath, but seemed content to throw back their drinks, watching the girl from out the corners of their eyes.

Bobby turned his attention back to her. As he looked closer, he realized that along the right side of her head stretched a very nasty wound. It looked pretty fresh, too.

"Are you alright?" Bobby blurted out accidentally, breaking his staunch barman façade. The girl looked up at him, her eyes innocent in her surprise.

"What? Well, no… Not really." She answered, grimly running a finger along the edge of the wound and wincing. "I don't remember who I am…"

"You… Well, you should really be getting yourself to a hospital, not hanging around this dump." Bobby lowered his voice, making sure the mercenaries were still distracted. The girl shook her head.

"Thanks for the concern, but somehow… I just need to be here. It's… Familiar somehow," she looked closely at Bobby; "you don't recognize me at all, do you?"

Bobby saw a look of hope in her eyes and hated to tell her no. He shook his head.

"The boys. Do you know any of them?" He asked her and she looked, but soon sighed and returned her attention to her water glass.

"No use. But maybe… I don't suppose you'd happen to know a certain man? White hair, blue eyes? Really showy red coat?" she asked and Bobby dropped the glass he was cleaning.

"Jesus! Look, sweetheart. You don't want to get involved with that guy anymore then you already are." He said in a hasty whisper and the girl cocked her head, not looking the least bit afraid.

"Why? He some kind of pimp or drug lord?" she asked smiling. Bobby sighed and straightened up.

"No… He's not a bad guy or anything… Just… Trouble seems to follow him." He said. The young woman looked thoughtful.

"But the thing is he's the only thing I remember. At least give me his name." Bobby just couldn't say no to her again.

"He once went by the name Tony Redgrave. But apparently it's Dante now." The girl nodded.

"Dante… Or Tony? Depends on which day of the week it is or something?" Bobby cracked a smile.

"You could say. He's one strange guy. But he's… Good at heart. Into dangerous toys, dangerous games. But he's a good person. Just don't go telling him I said it."

The young woman smiled and hopped off her bar stool.

"Thanks… Bobby, right? You've really helped me." She started to make for the door and Bobby leaned over the bar, grabbing her shoulder.

"I'm not letting you out there again in that getup, missy." He growled. "This is not a good part of town to walk about dressed like that." The girl looked stunned.

"Well, what do you suppose I do about it, dad?" She said partly humorously, partly sarcastically and Bobby sighed.

"Wait here." He said and disappeared into the back room for a minute. He returned shortly later with a largish brown paper bag. He handed it to her.

"What's this?" she asked, pairing into it. She saw women's clothes and looked at him questioningly.

"They belonged to Mary, my daughter." Bobby said. The girl looked skeptical; the clothes looked of good quality, especially against the backdrop of the bar.

"Won't she miss them?" she asked and immediately regretted it when Bobby looked away.

"She… Died. She got real sick and her husband James… Couldn't deal with watching her waste away… He… Yeah." Bobby was trying to make it seem like no big deal, but the girl could see quite clearly that it was. How couldn't it be?

"I'm so sorry… Maybe you should keep the clothes?" She said but Bobby just shook his head.

"No. Mary was a kind girl. She'd have wanted to do you some good too." He replied.

The young woman nodded.

"Thank you so much, Bobby." She said quietly.

"Hey! We need refills down here!"

"Can I buy you something, pretty girl?"

"I saw her first, jerk off!"

The mercenaries were starting to get restless, and Bobby knew it was unwise to ignore them.

"Good luck out there, I hope you get your answers." He said to the girl and smiled at her briefly, before turning his attention to the men, roaring at them to keep it down.

The girl looked from Bobby's back to the bag of clothes and smiled a little.

"Really… Thank you."

Ten minutes later, she was heading down the dark, dingy streets, clothes on her back, shoes on her feet and with a name in her head…

* * *

An… Update? My god!

Cookie for the spotter of the OBVIOUS Silent Hill 2 reference!


	5. Memory 3

The wind gusted between buildings with an eerie howl. It was the kind of wind that made superstitious types cross themselves and bolt their windows at night…

And on top of the tallest building, the assassin crouched, waiting.

A simple spell had led him to the city. The blood he had taken from her may have been useless for his master's precious ritual, but it would allow him to track her to the ends of the earth if necessary.

Thinking of the blood made the assassin grimace at the memory of how he had obtained it. He was no humanitarian of course, but preferred his targets to die quickly and painlessly. It meant less hassle and less… Movement, if his master wanted them cut up.

The child just would not stay down. And she had certainly done him a lot of damage, he thought. At the end of that fight there had been so much blood, it wasn't necessary to cut her any further.

The assassin growled at the memory of how he had bent to soak a cloth in her blood and somehow, she had found the energy to head-butt him. He had kicked her once more in the head then, and she had lain still.

Looking at her face when he picked up her limp body, the assassin had seen how pretty the girl was. If he'd had an ounce of sympathy for anybody besides himself, he'd have felt it for her then he thought. After all, she had fought long and valiantly for her life.

He'd almost felt sorry for her as he dropped her body from the cliff face into the ocean. He had eventually lost sight of her beneath the fierce tide and turned to leave, thinking his work was done…

The assassin gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe she had survived. Let alone the fact that she was actually conscious and moving around.

_Feisty little thing aren't you, sweetheart? _He thought.

A sound not unlike the breaking of glass drew his attention to his crystal talisman. It signalled she had just walked into range. The assassin concentrated on the dark streets below and sure enough, the girl walked out from between two buildings, her movements indicating she was looking for something.

_There you are…_

The assassin began to recite a spell quietly, the strange demonic language flowing from his tongue with practised ease. His right hand glowed red and he brought it up and then down in a fast, sweeping motion. A tear seemed to appear out of the thin air and suddenly, a scythe tore through it, almost catching the assassin across the face. He moved back with an angry growl, cursing the pair of drone demons as they fought their way out of the portal.

The red eyes of the demons stared dumbly at the assassin as he threw the bloodstained cloth at their feet.

"Kill the girl and bring her body to me." He said in the demonic tongue. The drones did nothing to acknowledge the command for a moment before they turned simultaneously and dropped from the building, plummeting to the ground.

The assassin sighed. The fall certainly wouldn't kill the two pathetic creatures, but their stupidity made him wonder if he'd made the right choice in sending them to fight the girl. After all, she was a demon hunter. However, he knew she was weak, and should she defeat them he would still be around to finish her off. He was just being cautious after their last encounter.

"Show them what you've got, sweetheart…" The assassin all but purred, watching the scene below…

The girl screamed in surprise as two shrouded figures plummeted from a building, hitting the sidewalk in front of her. Her heart pounded as she looked at them, thinking surely they must be dead until one of sprang up and lunged at her, the scythe it carried missing her by barely a hair's width.

Stumbling back, the girl somehow managed to avoid losing her balance. She turned and ran from the strange beasts as her mind screamed at her.

_Oh god, what are they? They're not human!_

A strange though occurred to her that the creatures actually looked somehow familiar, but she banished it as she concentrated on out-running them.

Not wanting their quarry to escape, one of the beasts sprang from the road to a narrow ledge on a building and jumped down in front of the girl. She skidded to a halt, a shocked gasp emanating from her lips. She tried to turn and run back but found her path blocked by the creature's twin.

She was surrounded. There was no way out.

"D-don't come any closer, you monsters!" The girl screamed. She had no weapon and no idea how to evade the horrific things.

_Demons_ she thought, and then _but how do I know that?_

She had no time to pursue it further as one of the things lunged and she fell back with a startled yelp. The demon stood over her, raising its scythe for the killing blow and the girl closed her eyes…

_BANG!_

Her eyes flew open at the sound of a gunshot and she stared shocked as the red light of the creatures eyes winked out before its very body exploded into dust. The girl looked around and another gunshot issued; this time the demon's twin fell back with an evil hiss and then shared its brother's end.

"Close call right there.' A voice called and the girl looked around, seeing nobody.

"Up here, babe." It called again and she looked up to see a figure standing on top of a low building, silhouetted by the moon. Squinting, the girl could make out their coat and hair blowing in the night wind.

She couldn't suppress a sound of shock as the figure sprang from the rooftop and landed on their feet close to her, completely unharmed by the three story drop.

"Gotta be careful at night, y'know' They said, walking up to her "Never know what kind of trouble…" Her rescuer trailed off as he stepped out of the shadow of the building and into the street light.

The girl's heart froze in her chest. There in front of her was the man from her memory, his coat the colour of dried-blood in the dark, his hair more silver than white, but no different than how she had seen him in her mind.

"It's you…" She breathed and the handsome man cracked a smile.

"And it's you.' He said "Long time no see, babe!" He extended a hand to her and she took it, letting him help her up. Once on her feet, however, she realised how weak her legs felt and all but collapsed into the man's chest. His arms instinctively wrapped around her, steadying her at the waist.

"Whoa, you ok?" He asked, concerned and brought his hand to her face, but then as if thinking better of it, stopped, his hand hovering near her left cheek.

"Babe…' He said, a frown forming on his beautiful face "What's the matter? Prides shouldn't be any match for you, but you looked like you were just gonna let them maul you." His hand then did settle on her cheek as he looked into her eyes. The girl clutched his red leather coat tightly.

"Please, what's my name?" She asked desperately and the man's silver eyebrows shot up.

"Uh… Why d'you ask?" He replied, frown deepening. The girl groaned, she knew she was going to pass out again soon and she hadn't gotten an answer.

"Because… I don't know… Who I am…" She managed before she slumped forward in the man's arms.

As her consciousness once more left her, the girl could just make out the man's mouth moving and she strained to hear what he was saying…

"_Lady? LADY!" _He was yelling, but to her everything sounded like she felt; as if she was underwater.

_Lady… _she thought _Doesn't he know me? Is that… My… Name?_

* * *

So I haven't updated in over a year. Bite me.

No seriously. Bite me. If you do, I might get off my lazy ass and do more work out of fear of pain and bleeding.


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